Whimsical Fantasy Snail Sculptures from CreativeCritters

Recently I was sorting through my stash of crafty things I've saved over the years and came across my collection of sea shells.  Looking at the shells I had a flash of inspiration and saw them becoming colorful fantasy snails, complete with snail riders like dwarfs and fairies.  The first thing I did (after thoroughly cleaning the shells) was to paint them with brightly colored metallic paints.  I altered their shape slightly with addition of some polymer clay, which I painted to match the rest of the shell.  Even I can't tell where the shell ends and the polymer clay begins.  I added some fun stripes and swirls, then began sculpting the body and head.  Since these are fantasy creatures, anything goes.  For this snail I used blue glass beads for eyes and gave him spiky lashes.  He's got a cute smile on his face and his little tongue is poking out just a bit.

 

To be sure the eye stalks were strong and wouldn't bend or break I sculpted them around wires which run from the eyes all the way down the neck.  After the snail was sculpted and baked I gave him two coats of high gloss glaze for a nice wet look.  This snail has a dwarf rider who looks likes he's having the time of his life.  What could be more fun than riding a snail through the forest at breakneck speed? LOL

 

My next snail is a pretty purple girl with beautiful eyelashes made from feathers.  I used gold beads for her eyes and reinforced her eye stalks with wires as I did for the first snail.  To achieve the speckled appearance I mixed  white embossing powder with the purple clay.  She carries a pretty flower fairy on her back.  You can see they've been out collecting wild flowers from the meadow.  The fairy even made her pet snail a garland of bright yellow flowers to wear around her neck.  A girl always likes to look pretty you know!

 

 

 

 

 

These two are obviously have a wonderful day together! 

 

As with many of my creations, these whimsical snails are one of a kind sculptures.  I'm never quite sure what they'll look like until I'm finished sculpting.  Their personalities develop as I'm shaping the clay.  I still have plenty of sea shells left in my craft stash, so I plan on making more of these fun characters.  Stay tuned to see what else I come up with! ;-)                                                                                                                          

-Michelle of CreativeCritters

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